The Lord ministered to me through this sermon by Dr. John Piper given at Angola Maximum Security Prison in southern California.  Watch this excellent video or download the audio version below.  Thought you might really be encouraged by it.

“Jesus did not come to assist you [in achieving] the [temporal] desires you had before you were born again.  He came [primarily] to change those desires radically and to be the main desire.” ~ Dr. John Piper

John chapter 6 is the sermon text.  Here the crowds who followed Jesus so eagerly – finding Him useful for their well being do to His amazing miracles – dwindled away, became frustrated and stopped following Jesus.  In fact, John tells us that only the 12 disciples stayed behind to follow Him. At the beginning of the story, there were over 5,000 people following Christ and within a day or two later, only 12.  Why the turning away? It seems that the people could not accept Jesus’ explanation concerning “the Bread of Life” and eating “true bread.”

Jesus came to BE bread, not just to give bread.

The video is almost 50 minutes long.  Normally I do not post such a lengthy video, but it is worth it!  Why not watch it during a lunch break?  Or set aside some extra time in the morning?  I found that Piper’s words to inmates serving life sentences – some on death row – were right at the heart of my need and the need of every sinner who needs God.

The video can be found on the Desiring God web site, where you can also download the audio version for free.

To pause the video above, hover your mouse over the lower left corner of the video. Then the pause button should appear.